3-D Gun Printing: People Already Making Their Own AR Lowers

Last year I blogged about 3-D printing and the possibility that someday soon we could print firearms parts and, possibly, whole guns. That future is arriving: people have already printed plastic AR 15 lowers.*

Defense Distributed, a group that hosts the Wiki Weapon project, is trying to make a whole, functional, printable gun. Their goal is modest: a .22 pistol that will fire at least one shot. Think of it like World War II’s “Liberator Pistol” for the 21st century. They then intend to make the information and plan available anywhere so anyone with a hobby grade 3-D printer can make a public domain pistol.

Your thoughts: is this idea good, bad or just weird? And how long do you think until we can print guns?

*On the one hand, the lower half of an AR can be nothing but a piece of plastic. However, it’s significant because the lower half has the serial number and is the one AR part that requires an FFL to transfer. Theoretically you could buy the rest of a rifle by mail or in person without a NICS background check then print out your own lower and build a rifle.